Gender Issues in "The Tale of Genji"

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The Tale of Genji is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early eleventh century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be considered a classic. While universally hailed as a masterpiece, its precise classification and influence in both Western and Eastern Canon has been a matter of debate (the Tale of Genji).

The Tale of Genji was written chapter by chapter, as Murasaki Shikibu delivered the tale to women of the aristocracy. It has many elements that are found in a modern novel including a central character and a very large number of major and minor characters. It has well-developed characterization of all the major characters, and a sequence of events happening over a period of time covering the Genji’s lifetime and beyond. The work does not make use of a plot and instead, events just happen and characters change simply by growing older. One remarkable feature of the Tale of Genji is its consistency, despite having some four hundred characters. One Example is that, all characters age, and all the family and feudal relationships are consistent among all chapters (the Tale of Genji).

A major ambition of any ranking gentlemen in the world of the Tale of Genji was to present a daughter to the Emperor or the Heir Apparent. Because of this the Emperor normally had a number of recognized relationships with women. Not because of sexual tendencies on his part but because he was required to make his prestige widely accessible to the members of the upper aristocracy. Below his one Empress he had several Consorts, and below that, a number of Intimate...

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...man in government service and no note she wrote contained kana, instead being written in Chinese. Her one major flaw though was one day when he went to visit her she hid behind and spoke to him through an “absurd screen.” Upon further examination it turned out that due to purposed she was forced to ingest “allium sativum,” or garlic, which caused her breath to be “too noxious” to entertain in a normal fashion. This proved to be too overpowering for him and he basically got up and fled the scene. Something as simple and overpowering as Garlic was enough for a man back in those days to deny a woman; no matter what other qualities she might posess.

Works Cited

Murasaki, Shikibu, and Royall Tyler. The Tale of Genji. New York: Viking, 2001. Print.

"The Tale of Genji." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 01 Mar. 2011. .

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